Getting a domain name for my portfolio site

Lork

I want my portfolio site to have a memorable URL, so I'm buying a domain name for it. It's hosted on Google Sites, so the domain would be a redirect to that. The registrar I'm looking at right now is Namecheap, but I'm open to suggestions if you think I could do better. I just have a few questions before I go through with it.

The redirection options that Namecheap gives me are "URL redirect" and "Frame redirect", and I'm not really sure what to go with. Ideally I want the domain to show up in the address bar, but I also want individual pages to be reflected in the address, so if someone wants to send a link to a page on my site to their HR manager, they can use www.domain.com/page/ Is that too much to ask for?

I'd also like to use it for email, but as the name I've settled on includes my own name, I'm not really sure what to put before the @. I've settled on contact@mydomain.com, but if there's some sort of established standard that people use for this situation, I'd like to know.

Namecheap offers something called "WhoisGuard" to obfuscate my information on whois lookups. Is getting this a good idea?

And finally, is there anything else in particular that I should know?

Deicist

Lork wrote: »

The redirection options that Namecheap gives me are "URL redirect" and "Frame redirect", and I'm not really sure what to go with. Ideally I want the domain to show up in the address bar, but I also want individual pages to be reflected in the address, so if someone wants to send a link to a page on my site to their HR manager, they can use www.domain.com/page/ Is that too much to ask for?

This is URL redirect.

I'd also like to use it for email, but as the name I've settled on includes my own name, I'm not really sure what to put before the @. I've settled on contact@mydomain.com, but if there's some sort of established standard that people use for this situation, I'd like to know.

You should be able to set a 'catchall' account on your domain, so that mail to everythingandanything@yourdomain.com goes to a specific account. Other than that, 'webmaster', 'info' and 'admin' are usually good bases to cover.

Namecheap offers something called "WhoisGuard" to obfuscate my information on whois lookups. Is getting this a good idea?

No idea. Probably not unless you're bothered by the thought of anyone being able to link your domain to you.

Lork

Tallus wrote: »

Lork wrote: »

The redirection options that Namecheap gives me are "URL redirect" and "Frame redirect", and I'm not really sure what to go with. Ideally I want the domain to show up in the address bar, but I also want individual pages to be reflected in the address, so if someone wants to send a link to a page on my site to their HR manager, they can use www.domain.com/page/ Is that too much to ask for?

This is URL redirect.

Are you sure? Doesn't that end up with sites.google.com/blahblah/mysite/page in the address bar?

Houndx

Godaddy offers free(ad supported) web space with their domains. IIRC, it's a fairly unobtrusive godaddy ad just at the top of the page. That would give you myportfolio.com/page and I think it might let you use Joomla! or the like if you choose.

Jasconius

I would recommend GoDaddy.

It's cheap and it's trusted.


Does Google Sites have name servers that you can point to instead of just doing a redirect? redirects are lame.

Centipeed

I use NameCheap for four or give domain names right now. Never had any problems with them.

Also, instead of redirects, you'll want to find out if Google Sites has DNS Servers as Jasconius suggested, and then registering the domain with Google Sites.

I haven't used the service in a while, but Google are usually quite good about things like this.

Recoil42

I use NameCheap. They're great, and came highly recommended to me by a number of professional developers.

Last I checked, WhoIsGuard is free, and comes with your domain registration, so there's nothing against it. I would recommend using it, I hear spammers have harvested addresses from DNS whois's in the past, so that's certainly nice to have for that.

Houndx wrote: »

Godaddy offers free(ad supported) web space with their domains. IIRC, it's a fairly unobtrusive godaddy ad just at the top of the page. That would give you myportfolio.com/page and I think it might let you use Joomla! or the like if you choose.

Do not do this. Highly unprofessional. You're better off just going with a Google Sites page, or the plethora of free hosting services out there that do domain support. And they are out there.

Another thing about Godaddy:

Jasconius wrote: »

I would recommend GoDaddy.

It's cheap and it's trusted.

Cheap, yes. Trusted, god no. You would not believe the Godaddy horror stories I have heard. Their customer service is awful, and last I heard, they're fond of keeping domains hostage if they get the chance. There are so many other quality hosts and domain providers out there, why would you go with the McDonald's of web hosting/domains?

Personally, I'm fond of https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/ , which I use on my own site/portfolio. Instead of promising the moon (ala Dreamhost) they offer more fair, realistic prices and charge you for what you use. Which, on a personal site that doesn't use much bandwidth, can be pennies a month. It then scales to you -- the more space/bandwidth you use, the more discounts you get. How it works is you put in a deposit, and then they take a chunk out every month for the bandwidth you've used that month, and you refill as necessary.

Also: PHP5, MySQL, SSH access, SFTP, Python, Ruby. Free DNS. Really decent knowledgebase, great customer support.

I'd heard very good reviews of them before I signed on, and I'm not disappointed at all. Oh, I've been with them since November, and -- no joke -- I've been charged about $2 all together since then. (According to my account summary, I put in $15 as a deposit to start, and I'm down to $12.97) It's really one of those "If you can't afford that..." situations. They're just great for small sites.

Lork

Centipeed wrote: »

I use NameCheap for four or give domain names right now. Never had any problems with them.

Also, instead of redirects, you'll want to find out if Google Sites has DNS Servers as Jasconius suggested, and then registering the domain with Google Sites.

I haven't used the service in a while, but Google are usually quite good about things like this.

Is this what you're talking about? That's all I can find. Unfortunately, not only is that page out of date (the interface has apparently gone through several revisions in the meantime), but the "provided instructions" don't exist in the newest revision.

Adding on to that, Namecheap says that I won't get email forwarding if I don't use their name servers.

Centipeed

Lork wrote: »

Centipeed wrote: »

I use NameCheap for four or give domain names right now. Never had any problems with them.

Also, instead of redirects, you'll want to find out if Google Sites has DNS Servers as Jasconius suggested, and then registering the domain with Google Sites.

I haven't used the service in a while, but Google are usually quite good about things like this.

Is this what you're talking about? That's all I can find. Unfortunately, not only is that page out of date (the interface has apparently gone through several revisions in the meantime), but the "provided instructions" don't exist in the newest revision.

Adding on to that, Namecheap says that I won't get email forwarding if I don't use their name servers.

I looked into it, and it looks like you'll have to use CNAMEs. Which is what I did for my Blogger account, way back when, as far as I can remember.

http://sites.google.com/site/gsunhelp/step-by-step-guides/cnamealiasmappinghowdoesitallwork

This website shows you how, apparently. I haven't looked through all of it, and I haven't tested it.

You should really look into hosting your own website, for the future. I pay $9.69 a year for a domain name at present, from NameCheap. I pay $10 a year for my hosting. I'm running four websites off of it right now. If your site is small, and you're not expecting millions of views a month, then you can get hosting extremely cheaply.

Recoil42's suggestion for hosting is also a good one, since I've heard great things about them too, and you'll likely end up paying very small amounts.

Recoil42

Also worth pointing out that http://www.surpasshosting.com most likely has their Valentine's day deal coming up at the start of February. They only announce it last minute, but they've done it for the last.. I think three years straight, at least? A whole year of hosting for $5-6, usually their cheapest plan, but as of now, that's still 500GB Disk Space, Unmetered Bandwidth, and 10 Domains, which is insane value. MySQL, PHP, and the whole shebang.

Not my favorite webhost I've ever used, they're a little weird with SSH access and I got locked out of my account once, but they were otherwise always rock solid and reliable, customer service was prompt and friendly, billing was handled well, and I do recommend them. And you can't beat the value at that price, even compared to NearlyFreeSpeech.


Who are you using for hosting currently, Centipeed?

$10 a year? Sounds like a Dreamhost deal.

Kris

I've also heard pretty good things about http://www.asmallorange.com/ hosting, if you've got a small site.

Centipeed

Recoil42 wrote: »

Who are you using for hosting currently, Centipeed?

$10 a year? Sounds like a Dreamhost deal.

I would never use Dreamhost. I use another Goon-run hosting company (There are quite a few, and they all tend to be good value.):

http://www.holeinthewallhosting.com

The support is fantastic, the price is fantastic, and the bandwidth and space allocations are more than I'll ever need, probably.

Being a Goon, I get 500mb of space and 30gb of bandwidth over the normal 400mb and 20gb. At first, given that I came from HostMonster, where I was given 50gb and 10tb or something stupid, I thought it was too low, but it turns out that, even with several personal sites at once, you hardly use anything.

templewulf

I'm using hostgator, and it's way more expensive. I'm trying to set up a site with user-uploaded content, so I don't know how large the space requirements will get. At the moment, though, it's $10 a month, and with my day job so busy, I've basically paid $10 for having my site sit there for the last month unfinished.

saltiness

Lork wrote: »

Tallus wrote: »

Lork wrote: »

The redirection options that Namecheap gives me are "URL redirect" and "Frame redirect", and I'm not really sure what to go with. Ideally I want the domain to show up in the address bar, but I also want individual pages to be reflected in the address, so if someone wants to send a link to a page on my site to their HR manager, they can use www.domain.com/page/ Is that too much to ask for?

This is URL redirect.

Are you sure? Doesn't that end up with sites.google.com/blahblah/mysite/page in the address bar?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Frame redirect is what OP wants.

I use Hostway for my website btw. I don't know if it's any better or worse than the others but their customer service seems pretty good.

DarkWarrior

Little OT but I was looking at getting a domain name and starting a little site considering how cheap such a prospect is now, how the hell do people get site names? Everything I can think of has a godaddy page parked on it. Is that the reality? Tonnes and tonnes of names with godaddy pages parked there?

FyreWulff

Yes, because due to domain tasting regulations spammers can essentially use a shell game to keep hundreds of names registered eternally for like a dollar.

DarkWarrior

FyreWulff wrote: »

Yes, because due to domain tasting regulations spammers can essentially use a shell game to keep hundreds of names registered eternally for like a dollar.

But I cant even see an offer to buy it (not that I would), whats the purpose?